The Stream

Beyond the poles, a long goodbye to glaciers

Non-polar glaciers are disappearing. Is it too late to preserve them?

Pakistan is home to some of the world’s largest glaciers outside of the polar regions, but many of them are melting at a pace that’s far from glacial. Can anything be done to preserve them? For Pakistan’s northern regions, glacial melt has big consequences, including greater potential for extreme weather, flooding, drought, food insecurity and migration.

What can we learn from glaciers and why do they matter to the environment? Do enough people recognise climate change as a human rights issue?

We’ll also hear about how people are dealing with glaciers in other parts of the world you might not usually associate with fields of ice.

Joining The Stream:

Aisha Khan
CEO, Mountain and Glacier Protection Organization
mgpo.org
 

Musonda Mumba @MumbaMusondam
Programme officer, UNEP Ecosystem Based Adaptation Programme
 

Dhananjay Regmi @DhananjayRegmi
Mountain geomorphologist
 

Andrew Fountain
Glaciologist, Portland State University

What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.